Rickie Fowler Seals The Deal
Last week at the Rocket Mortgage was a week unlike any other for fan favorite Rickie Fowler as he ended his drought and returned to the winner’s circle. Any golf fan knows the trials and tribulations that Fowler has faced over the past couple of years. Between self doubt, lack of confidence, swing changes, and just life, Rickie has been in a drought for over four years, more specifically his last win came 1,610 days ago. A drought like that can weigh on a player in so many ways. For Rickie, it seemed to be even harder because he went from a place of great success to virtually losing his swing. However, this win was just a matter of time. This season thus far Fowler has recorded eight top 10s and has made 18 of 20 cuts this season. His world ranking has also reflected his success landing him at the 23rd ranked spot in the world the lowest Fowler has been in many years. Fowler has also made it into the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings. Prior to this year, his best FedEx Cup finish was fourth, and this year might be his year to capture the cup. On top of his world and FedEx Cup ranking, Rickie now has a real shot at making the Ryder Cup Team. At this point he should be on the team, there aren’t many players that are playing as consistently and solid as he is right now. At the end of the day, there aren’t many people that were upset about Rickie’s win, he’s a class act, a man of the people, and a scary good player when he’s on.
Speaking of the Ryder Cup, there is a lot of chatter about who deserves to be on the team and who doesn’t. As of right now, the top six players on the U.S. side are; Scottie Scheffler, Whydham Clark, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, and Max Homa. On the European side, the top three players thus far are Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, and Yannik Paul. Now these rankings are subject to change and the cutoff point for the automatic qualifiers on team U.S. is the second FedEx Cup playoff event and for the Europeans, the final date is September 3, 2023. After the top six players qualify each captain has the choice on the final six players which concludes the 12 man roster. This is where the Ryder Cup gets fun. Now within those six captain's picks, there are a few that are fairly automatic but the environment the golf world currently sits in poses many questions. For starters players like Patrick Reed and Bryson Dechambeau have no business being on the team despite their comments on how they should be considered for captain's picks. They are both so far down in the rankings that it would virtually make zero sense picking them. Another common name that keeps popping up on the U.S. side is Talor Gooch. Gooch has won three times on the LIV tour and that's about it this season. He’s had subpar play in the majors that he’s qualified for and besides those wins, frankly, he’s irrelevant. It’s tough to say what will change surrounding the Ryder Cup in light of the LIV/PGAT merger. One thing for sure is that The European Team has lost a significant amount of players to LIV and it has greatly hurt the quality of the team. In the end, there are two months left to move up in the rankings, the next two months should be fun.
This week the PGAT heads to TPC Deere Run for the fan favorite John Deere Classic. This event in the past has been historic and has always drawn fantastic fields, however as of late the event has lost a lot of stardom and that has drastically damaged the field. Nevertheless, this is such a great event and now gives golf fans the opportunity to see talented players that we might not have seen yet this year. More specifically, Eric Cole. Cole has shown his stripes thus far through his rookie season. He’s found himself in many positions to win, unfortunately just coming up short. Keep your eye out for Cole this week, after a solid showing at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago he’s poised for yet another strong week. (Mike)
The John Deere Classic used to be such an awesome tournament the week before The Open Championship. It is a place where so many good players would come and play in the Midwest, which typically gets left out most years. It is a place Jordan Spieth started to become someone to pay attention to. Unfortunately due to schedule changes and where it falls on the calendar, it is now a very sad shell of what once was. The field is abysmal and while it is a great chance for some of the lesser known names, it is a letdown for the fans in the Midwest that want to see the best. I think it would be really cool if someday the John Deere was an elevated event, but I think that is unlikely.
My pick for this week is Adam Hadwin. After having a chance to win the Rocket Mortgage last weekend I think he gets it done against a weak field. It is by far one of the best golfers in this field and if he plays like he did last week he will find himself in contention again. Cameron Young is the highest ranked player in the field this week and he will be looking for some momentum as he has fallen off a bit in the last few months. I like his chances to take advantage of the weaker competition this week as well. (Tyler)